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Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > Management & management techniques > Project management
Architects and engineers can build models to test their ideas - why not managers? In Game Theory in Management: Modelling Business Decisions and Their Consequences, author Michael Hatfield presents a series of mathematically structured analogies to real-life business and economic interaction scenarios, and then, using modern game theory, he shows how to test common managerial technical approaches for their effectiveness. His results are astonishing: if game theory is correct then many commonly-held and taught management approaches and techniques are not only less effective than thought, they are actually detrimental in many areas where they are held to be beneficial. Game Theory in Management also examines managerial implications from network theory, cartage schemes, risk management theory, management information system epistemology, and other areas where the quantification and testing of business decisions can be employed to identify winning and losing stratagems.
Losing contracts at rebid can have a major impact on a business: the loss of turnover and profit, of customers, skills, people and potentially reduced morale and confidence. Investment in retaining rebids can underpin significant increases in growth, at a lower cost than focussing only on chasing new business. Average retention rate of contracts at rebid is 60-70% across many companies, with others retaining as little as 50%, or less. However, there are proven approaches that can improve any company's chances of winning. Winning Your Rebid will help incumbent contractors increase their chances of retaining an existing contract. Whilst it includes the skills of bidding for new contracts, rebidding requires a significantly different set of actions and processes. The book takes you through all the preparations throughout a contract that will put you in the best position to win your rebid and includes valuable advice, techniques, case studies and ideas on how to run and deliver it successfully.
The most essential component of every project manager’s job is the ability to identify potential risks before they cause unnecessary headaches and turmoil all around. All projects are inherently risky, and complex ones can potentially be the downfall for even the most experienced project manager. From technical challenges and resource issues to unrealistic deadlines and problems with your subcontractors, any number of things can go wrong. Fully updated, consistent with PMI® standards, and addressing “VUCA” (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity—the now-common business and project management acronym), this book remains the definitive resource for project managers seeking to be proactive in their efforts to guard against failure and minimize unwanted surprises. Identifying and Managing Project Risk draws on real-world situations and hundreds of risk examples to show you how to:
Complete with fresh guidance on program risk management, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, simulation and modeling, and significant “non-project” risks, this one-stop indispensable resource is what every project manager needs to avoid chaos and keep their projects on track.
Why do carefully planned projects fail? Projects are affected, for good or ill, by the humans who undertake them. If the plan fails to take account of the psychology of managing people and the psychology of managing change there may be trouble ahead. Sharon De Mascia's Project Psychology uses human behaviour and emerging psychological models to provide an insight into the successful management of people in projects. By selecting the right team, facilitating a common vision and by gaining a psychological understanding of how the team and the project stakeholders interact together, a project manager improves the chance of a successful outcome. Whether you are looking to set up and manage a new project or working to develop the competence and maturity of your organization's project management capability, Project Psychology will provide you with insights and tools for making sense of the people involved and for managing them to best effect.
You're overseeing a large-scale project, but you're not an engineering or construction specialist, and so you need an overview of the related sustainability concerns and processes. To introduce you to the main issues, experts from the fields of engineering, planning, public health, environmental design, architecture, and landscape architecture review current sustainable large-scale projects, the roles team members hold, and design approaches, including alternative development and financing structures. They also discuss the challenges and opportunities of sustainability within infrastructural systems, such as those for energy, water, and waste, so that you know what's possible. And best of all, they present here for the first time the Zofnass Environmental Evaluation Methodology guidelines, which will help you and your team improve infrastructure design, engineering, and construction. Contributors include:
Asking tough questions about the current state of project
management, The 12 Pillars of Project Excellence: A Lean Approach
to Improving Project Results provides groundbreaking techniques to
achieve excellence in project leadership that can result in six
sigma type results or failure-free projects. It unveils novel
solutions and breakthrough concepts including project culture
analysis, the five powers of project leadership, the power of
visualization, the science of simplicity, dynamic risk leadership,
and dynamic project failures analysis to help you chart the most
efficient path to the pinnacle of project leadership. The author provides the cutting-edge methods based on decades of personal practical experience, valuable lessons learned, and authoritative insights gained from leading over 300 projects to successful conclusions. Complete with powerful tools for organizational- and self-assessment on the accompanying CD, this book will not only transform your approach to project management, but will also provide you with the tools to develop effective leaders and consistently achieve exceptional business results. Some Praise for the Book: a highly pragmatic guide to project management. lays out the way
of thinking that underpins success a book that everyone could
benefit from. provides the most significant contribution for leaders to
mitigate project risks, assure sustainable growth, and guarantee
survival . one of the BEST books I have ever read on project
leadership. a comprehensive guide that will assist any business leader
within an organization to consistently achieve excellent business
results A must buy get it now
PPP/PFI contracts often share a number of features: they run over a very long period of time; they are conceived without a complete understanding of how requirements may change and despite the rhetoric they tend to create a context where dispute and litigation rather than partnership are the norm. In this environment, effective auditing is essential to ensure that projects are delivering what the end-user requires. Audits are both a public sector right, and a matter of good management sense. Performance Auditing of Public Sector Property Contracts is a practical guide to performance auditing for public sector property managers with a series of guidelines for auditors of public sector property contracts. The book concentrates on Facilities Management contracts. Lori Keating explains the basis for the process; how to retain balance, independence and rigour and how to audit intangible performance measures and other tricky areas. The book follows an audit process from commencement to conclusion, and contains a discussion of factors that contribute to the success of any audit. It is essential reading for public sector auditors, PPP project managers and contractors.
Although complexity is a phenomenon that confounds and challenges program managers across industry sectors, there is little information available that identifies the set of competencies managers need to complete their program successfully and deliver the benefits desired by stakeholders. Program Management Complexity: A Competency Model fills this void. Written by two of the first professionals to obtain the Program Management Professional (PgMP (R)) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI), this book begins with a literature review of program and project management complexity. Next, it presents a competency model, based on the authors' seven decades of collective experience in the field, which follows the framework of PMI's model for project managers. Useful for corporate and government organizations, universities, executives, PMO directors and human resources professionals who need to determine program management training needs, this unique model is divided into performance competencies and personal competencies. The performance competencies are organized according to the six domains of program management, while the eight personal competencies are based on research plus a survey of PgMPs (R) worldwide. After presenting the model, along with detailed plans and guidelines for its implementation in a real-world setting, the book presents three questionnaires designed to help organizations, existing program managers, and aspiring program managers assess their own development plans. Supplying you with the insight to recognize the elements of complexity during the defining and initiating stages, this book includes detailed guidelines to help you recruit, train, and develop program managers capable of delivering stated program benefits, services, and results. Check out a video of Ginger Levin discussing her book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6YPwEhYDlc
The issue of what defines project success (or failure) is complex and often elusive, and dependent on the perceptions of different stakeholders. In this enlightening book Emanuel Camilleri examines the key factors bearing on perceived success or failure. This book is not just about project management, it goes much deeper into the topic of project success by prescribing a project success framework. In chapters dedicated to factors such as leadership, teams, communication, information management and risk management, the author shines a light on the key behaviours in which project managers and others engage and how those behaviours predict success or failure. Practising project managers, project board members and sponsors, struggling to manage conflicting stakeholder expectations, complexity and ambiguity, will learn which factors are vital to determining successful outcomes. Finally, having highlighted the particular skills, abilities and attributes identified by the research, Dr Camilleri offers a diagnostic model for assessing an organization's preparedness for undertaking and successfully managing major projects. Project Success provides a valuable contribution to the literature on this subject, and its application delivers practical guidance that will be welcomed by project professionals at all levels.
* The first book to explore maintenance management for educational buildings within the educational sector of developing countries * The book brings together a group of top scholars on the much-debated issue of attributes influencing maintenance management * Includes a detailed two-stage Delphi study in the South African education sector as a case study * Highlights and addresses theoretical gaps in existing studies essential for the maintenance management of buildings in developing economies, providing a stimulus for future research
The ability of individuals to work together to facilitate the delivery of a project can be a major factor in determining its success. By misinterpreting or even missing the signs of underlying political issues a project manager will struggle to deliver projects successfully. Project Politics provides a framework for solving political concerns through the effective management of complex relationships. Nita Martin's structured approach will raise awareness and improve your ability to manage issues in the workplace. She shows that once you recognize the problems, and take politics in your stride, you can successfully manage such environments. The first part of Project Politics presents theoretical concepts of human behaviour as a basis for structuring observations and understanding why people behave the way they do. The second follows the familiar project life cycle. Each project stage is considered in turn, and numerous case studies are presented with analyses that draw upon the concepts presented in Part I. Nita Martin uses psychology, influence, behaviour and communication models, gives guidance on putting theory into practice and points out typical political situations throughout. For all management professionals who recognize the importance of politics in the workplace and wish to be armed with the tools to make a difference, Project Politics will provide the foundation.
Program management (PgM) is fast developing as the essential link between strategy and projects and as a vehicle for organizational change. It offers the means to manage groups of projects with a common business purpose in an integrated and effective way. The Second Edition of Michel Thiry's Program Management builds on the bestselling title first published in 2010. The heavily revised text reflects the latest program management guides and international standards and includes: a new section on agile management in programs; the author's own program management maturity measure; a new section on change management, which is now integral to many programs. Michel has also reviewed and revised the program lifecycle to align with the more unified view of program management that has emerged since the book was first published. The result is an essential guide to program management that incorporates a robust theoretical framework, complemented by examples and advice from one of the world's leading practitioners.
The role of project sponsor is critical in large projects during the development of the business case, for governance and assurance and as the person who decides that the project should continue or close at any stage. Yet in many organizations the skills of the sponsor are often assumed; he or she will be a senior manager who may well have no practical project experience at all. David West explains the roles and skills that lie at the heart of effective sponsorship. The sponsor acts as a lynch-pin between the Board and the Project Manager, communicating and translating requirements downwards and resource needs, progress and constraints back upwards. An over-zealous sponsor may be tempted to assume some of the project manager's responsibilities, whilst an ineffective sponsor may be invisible, leaving the project manager uninformed by, and unrepresented to, the Board. Project Sponsorship includes exercises, examples and case histories from the real world of projects. It is an essential guide for anyone assuming the important role of managing the business case of the project and will help you ensure that the organization is 'doing the right things' as well as 'doing things right'.
Business managers have long known the power of the Balanced Scorecard in executing corporate strategy. Implementing the Project Management Balanced Scorecard shows project managers how they too can use this framework to meet strategic objectives. It supplies valuable insight into the project management process as a whole and provides detailed explanations on how to effectively implement the balanced scorecard to measure and manage performance and projects. The book details a tactical approach for implementing the scorecard approach at the project level and investigates numerous sample scorecards, metrics, and techniques. It examines recent research on critical issues such as performance measurement and management, continuous process improvement, benchmarking, metrics selection, and people management. It also explains how to integrate these issues with the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard: customer, business processes, learning and innovation, and financial. Filled with examples and case histories, the book directly relates the scorecard concept to the major project management steps of determining scope, scheduling, estimation, risk management, procurement, and project termination. It includes a plethora of resources on the accompanying downloadable resources-including detailed instructions for developing a measurement program, a full metrics guide, a sample project plan, and a set of project management fill-in forms.
The publication of this book "Project Knowledge Management - Systematic Lea- ing with the Project Comparison Technique" by Erwin v. Wasielewski lls me with a special joy. It is a translation of the author's German book "Projektvergleic- technik" which I edited in 2003 in the GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft fur ] Proje- management e.V. series in Germany. I have closely watched the author's work on Project ComparisonTechnique since his rst publicationin 1978, and I have always admired the analytical exactness of his investigations. Unfortunately, as I have to admit in retrospect, v. Wasielewski's ideas were too far advanced. Maybe the fact that parametric analyseswere rarely used in Germanyalso hinderedthe propagation of the method at the time. Duringthe 1970sand early1980s, there was notalk about projectcharacteristics, project benchmarking, or project evaluation. The only exception was an evaluation model presented by Bruce Baker in 1979 during the world congress in Garmisch- Partenkirchen, but this can hardlybe comparedto the approachin this book.Almost nobody re ected on evaluation of project experiences, although in the USA for several years cost data of completed projects were being used to get parametric estimation equations. A chapter "Project Close-out" did not yet exist, and even later was to be found only in advanced technical literature."
'This book distills the learning from practical experience and academic research...and represents a significant contribution to the challenges we face in transforming government and public services in an environment of ever-tighter finances' " John Suffolk, UK Government Chief Information Officer Major public sector IT-enabled business change programmes are designed to realize benefits in terms of more efficient services, services tailored to the need of citizens, and improved outcomes, but in practice such benefits often fail to materialize or we are unable to demonstrate their delivery - Transforming Government and Public Services provides proven tools, techniques and processes to reverse this trend. Stephen Jenner explores a number of key themes that are fundamental to an approach to project portfolio management built on value. He explains how to: develop a business case to achieve a desired intent rather than justify a particular solution; create project documentation that is both technically rigorous and gives users a clear understanding of where you are going; treat projects as investments rather than costs; include stage gates with teeth that are closely linked to real performance; plan for success rather than holding people to account for failure; use a single version of the truth principle so there are no arguments about different data. In a complex, confusing and often highly politicized environment, Stephen Jenner's Transforming Government and Public Services provides a clear, definitive and highly applied guide for all involved in selecting the right projects and doing them right so that they achieve the intended investment objectives.
As the world becomes increasingly globalized, today s companies expect to hire engineers who are effective in a global business environment. Although you can find many books covering globalization, most of them are aimed at business, management, or social sciences. Developed with engineers in mind, Global Engineering: Design, Decision Making, and Communication covers the theory, models, and decision making tools for incorporating globalization into engineering work. Written by a multidisciplinary team of experts in industrial, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering and organizational communications, this book is a primer on how to improve designs, make better decisions, and communicate more effectively in an international working environment. The contents of the book reflect the authors multidisciplinary perspective and their experience in working on projects around the world. The book presents globalization as a phenomenon affecting the way companies operate and their engineering functions. It uses a case study format based on system improvement projects and real industrial projects, ranging from design to supply chain and logistics problems. This case study format allows for a natural presentation of critical technical and non-technical concepts and their complex interactions. The challenge that engineers face in a global environment results from the need to be aware of interdependencies and to be able to determine which ones are most important in each situation. Unique in its focus on engineering, this book provides a framework for how to better design, make decisions, and communicate in the new era of global competition.
In this very distinctive book, Images of Projects challenges how we think about projects in the most fundamental way: it rejects outright the idea of a one 'best way' to view all projects and also the idea of following a prescriptive approach. In contrast, Images of Projects seeks to encourage a more pragmatic and reflective approach, based on deliberately seeing projects from multiple perspectives, exploring the insights and implications which flow from these, and crafting appropriate action strategies in complex situations. Based on real examples and the authors' work over the last ten years, Images of Projects presents seven pragmatic images for making sense of the complex realities of projects. Illustrated using various models, these images are presented in ways that allow the reader to reflect upon their own mental models in relation to the different perspectives in this book.
* Uniquely cover sustainable construction and regenerative construction from the construction project manager's perspective, not the building designer * Links construction to the UN SDGs * Easy to follow structure makes it ideal for use in undergraduate programmes in construction, architecture and engineering
Most construction projects are large and costly. Collaborative
working involves two or more stakeholders sharing their efforts and
resources to complete the project more effectively and
efficiently.
Collaborative, integrative and multi-disciplinary teams can
tackle the complex issues involved in creating a viable built
environment. This tends to be looked at from three interrelated
perspectives: the technological, organizational, and social; and of
these the key issue is to improve productivity and enable
innovation through the empowerment and motivation of people.
This book provides insights for researchers and practitioners in the building and construction industry as well as graduate students, written by an international group of leading scholars and professionals into the potential use, development and limitations of current collaborative technologies and practices. Material is grouped into the themes of advanced technologies for collaborative working, virtual prototyping in design and construction, building information modelling, managing the collaborative processes, and human issues in collaborative working.
While the project management body of knowledge is embraced by disciplines ranging from manufacturing and business to social services and healthcare, the application of efficient project management is of particularly high value in science, technology, and engineering undertakings. STEP Project Management: Guide for Science, Technology, and Engineering Projects presents an integrated, step-by-step approach to managing projects in these complex areas, using the time-tested concepts, tools, and techniques of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK (R)). STEP is an acronym for Science, Technology, and Engineering Projects, and also serves as a mnemonic reference to the step-by-step approach of the book. This volume takes an approach that combines managerial, organizational, and quantitative techniques into a logical sequence of project implementation steps. The book begins by exploring the special methodology imperative for managing these types of sophisticated projects. It then delineates the major steps involved in project integration. The author discusses the management of scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement. Then, using a compelling case study that profiles the errors leading to the 1986 Challenger disaster, the book examines how flaws in decision-making, failure to consider all factors, lack of communication, and inappropriate priorities can lead to catastrophe. In today's fast-changing IT-based, competitive global market, success can be even more elusive and hard won. Effective project management in all facets of operations can give an enterprise the advantage it seeks. In this book, the author's direct writing style, designed to appeal to busy professionals, conveys the complex concepts of high-stakes project management in a simple, efficient manner. He provides a general framework that shows what needs to be done to manage complex projects, using steps that are flexible, expandable, and modifiable.
Systems Thinking for a Turbulent World will help practitioners in any field of change engage more effectively in transformative innovation. Such innovation addresses the paradigm shift needed to meet the diverse unfolding global challenges facing us today, often summed up as the Anthropocene. Fragmentation of local and global societies is escalating, and this is aggravating vicious cycles. To heal the rifts, we need to reintroduce the human element into our understandings - whether the context is civic or scientific - and strengthen truth-seeking in decision-making. Aided by appropriate concepts and methods, this healing will enable a switch from reaction to anticipation, even in the face of discontinuous change and high uncertainty. The outcome is to privilege the positive human skills for collaborative navigation through uncertainty over the disjointed rationality of mechanism and artificial intelligence, which increasingly alienates us. The reader in search of new ways of thinking will be introduced to concepts new to systems thinking that integrate systems thinking and futures thinking. The concept of anticipatory present moment (APM) serves as a basis for learning the cognitive skills that better enable navigation through turbulent times. A key personal and team practice is participative repatterning, which is the basis for transformative innovation. This practice is aided by new methods of visual facilitation. The reader is guided through the unfolding of the ideas and practices with a narrative based on the metaphor of search portrayed in the tradition of ox herding, found in traditional Far Eastern consciousness practice.
There are many books on project management and many on embedded systems, but few address the project management of embedded products from concept to production. Project Management of Complex and Embedded Systems: Ensuring Product Integrity and Program Quality uses proven Project Management methods and elements of IEEE embedded software development techniques, to explain how to deliver a reliable complex system to market. This volume begins with a general discussion of project management, followed by an examination of the various tools used before a project is underway. The book then delves into the specific project stages: concept, product development, process development, validation of the product and process, and release to production. Finally, post-project stages are explored, including failure reporting, analysis, corrective actions, and product support. The book draws heavily on information from Department of Defense sources as well as systems developed by the Automotive Industry Action Group, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford to standardize the approach to designing and developing new products. These automotive development and production ideas have universal value, particularly the concept of process and design controls. The authors use these systems to explain project management techniques that can assist developers of any embedded system. The methods explored can be adapted toward mechanical development projects as well. The text includes numerous war stories offering concrete solutions to problems that might occur in production. Tables and illustrative figures are provided to further clarify the material. Organized sequentially to follow the normal life cycle of a project, this book helps project managers identify challenges before they become problems and resolve those issues that cannot be avoided. |
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